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Coping with decline: Comparative social-historical analysis of depopulation and community welfare in Europe, 1950-2022

Project description

Studying regional depopulation as a slow-burning crisis

The decline in population size and the closure of schools and hospitals serve as primary indicators of regional depopulation. Although this phenomenon has been widespread in Europe since the 1950s, affecting both rural and urban communities, there is still a lack of available historical studies on depopulation. Although just as severe, slow-burning crises, which occur over extended periods, are often less visible than one-time shocks and disasters. The ERC-funded DEPOP project will study regional depopulation as a slow-burning crisis. This involves mapping demographic changes, investigating community strategies for coping with depopulation, and developing a new framework for studying community welfare. Using a multi-level approach that draws on compositional demography, the project examines communities in depopulating regions in Finland, the Netherlands, and Ukraine.

Objective

The shrinking population and closure of schools and hospitals are among the main signs of regional depopulation. Although this phenomenon has been widespread in Europe since the 1950s, affecting both rural and urban communities, historical studies of depopulation are still scarce. How communities have responded, and indeed coped, with the decline in population and welfare over the past 70 years is uncharted territory. DEPOP will break new ground by illuminating regional depopulation as a potent example of a slow burn crisis, occurring over extended periods of time. We will: map out demographic trajectories of depopulation and their links to welfare provision; investigate community strategies to cope with depopulation; and develop a new framework to study community welfare in the slow burn crises as depopulation.

Slow burn crises occur over extended periods and may thus be less visible than one-time shocks and disasters. There is currently no approach to examine how communities cope with slow burn crises. DEPOP will develop a novel multi-level approach by drawing on and developing methodologies in compositional demography, which is rooted in the historical concept of communication communities. DEPOP will look at communities in depopulating regions in Finland, the Netherlands, and Ukraine. We will analyse: (macro-level) population trajectories and state welfare provision data, available as reports and regional statistics; (meso-level) collective coping strategies through social organisations, collected through their archives and witness seminars, and (micro-level) individual coping strategies, examined through oral histories.

DEPOPs historical approach and findings will offer the first-of-its-kind comparative framework to study communities affected by the slow burn crisis of depopulation. This will help us to advance our understanding of why some communities have historically been more resilient than others when faced with slow burn crises.

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2023-STG

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Host institution

RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT GRONINGEN
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 496 854,00
Address
Broerstraat 5
9712CP Groningen
Netherlands

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Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 496 854,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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